Slovenia's Golob Wins Narrow Election Lead

Slovenia's parliamentary election on Sunday ended in a razor-thin contest, with Prime Minister Robert Golob's liberal Freedom Movement securing a narrow lead over the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party led by Janez Janša, setting the stage for intense coalition negotiations in the European Union nation of two million people.

Preliminary results, based on nearly all votes counted, showed the Freedom Movement with about 28.6 percent of the vote and 29 seats in the 90-member National Assembly. Janša's party trailed closely at around 28 percent, claiming 28 seats. No party reached the 46 seats needed for a majority, making smaller parties pivotal in forming the next government. Other groups, including the Social Democrats with six seats, the left-wing Levica with five, the center-right New Slovenia with nine, the Democrats with six, and the populist Resni.ca with five, emerged as potential kingmakers.

President Nataša Pirc Musar urged political leaders on Monday to begin talks immediately. "I urge them to sit down at the negotiating table as soon as possible," she said on social media, congratulating the Freedom Movement as the relative winner despite its slim margin of less than...